One Voice Crew 977: Representing One Voice Asia from the streets of Nepal.

OVC 977 is a community that is representing One Voice Asia from the streets of Nepal. Its main intention is to support the Punk/Hardcore bands from day one.

One Voice Asia records/Crew history goes way back to 1997 when it was formed in Singapore and now it has come a long way spreading it’s brotherhood to many different countries like Nepal, Germany, USA, Mexico, Holland and many other different countries.

We caught up with Anis (General Manager) And Asim (Nepal representative for OVAR) to know a little more about this rising movement of brotherhood in Punk/Hardcore genre.

Many people here are just not aware of the fact that there’s a Punk/Hc movement going on on the street of Nepal via OVC. But what exactly is OVC at first place? Many would like to know!

ANIS: “Not even a year I pass through the movement and I can already see the vibes into the city of Nepal. OVC is a form of strength that diverse all angle of Unity , Brotherhood and Loyalty. It’s not just a family or music. It’s about our daily life, daily frustration and anger which we can’t really fight over but we can bring ourselves to shows and express ourselves. Spreading the anger that we see in the society and the outside world. The only groups of people who understand our vision are the only people around us at the show. If not about the anger or anything that relates the impact of our life we won’t be sitting here doing nothing in life. OVC is the home for us to understand the situation we hold in this world. The connection. We break every barriers.
So we be in touch and forever will.”

ASIM: Currently, OVC exists in around 17 countries worldwide. We are not only active musically, but also we focus on various social activities like feeding homeless, animal rights, drugs awareness and so on. There are some stereotypes who thinks OVC is a gang or an organization or a club and so on but actually, we are not any of those. We are just a bunch of guys with a same idea and love for hardcore/punk music, trying to do something for the scene, representing Nepal for a hardcore movement that was started during mid 90’s by ABDUL HADI [Social Integration] from Singapore to deliver message of unity, friendship, social wrongs and so on. We express our anger within us in the pit during our shows and believe it or not, it does unite us.

And how is OVC helping the Punk/HC bands which are otherwise, here in Nepal, overshadowed by the hordes of Metal bands and Metal scene? Any promotional strategy that you have for these bands?

ASIM: There’s nothing strategical promotional tech that we will apply. It’s great that metal scene is doing good. We don’t want to make it huge or expect it to be something big. We will still be doing what we are doing now. Gigs, supporting grassroots’ and struggling bands and keep it the way it is.

We can see that OVC is related to OVAR so will it make any easier for Nepali Punk/HC bands to get some record deals?

ANIS: “OVC is the first movement that came out before OVAR. OVAR is just the label. It is for the family or friends worldwide. It’s just like another bridge for the OVC to live on and get updated about the upcoming shows or releases. Will it be easier to get a record deal? Well, everything is DIY here regardless of the place you live in.

It is noticeable that Punk/Hc gigs are happening quite frequently these days in Ktm but most Metal fans refrain to attend ‘em and vice versa. What’s your take on that?

ASIM: We have just been starting out and most of the people are not aware of any of our gigs. Maybe stereotypical metalheads refrain from all this but I’m pretty sure there are couple of or few metalheads attending or accidentally get there. And it could be same with the hardcore/punks. well, If we look at the history, metal and punk or hardcore always got along. All the good old metal bands have mentioned or represented punk/old school hardcore as an influence. So, if it’s happening out there then why not here? They need to get out of the closet and look out the fucking window! They need to do a bit of research about the whole crossover thing happened in the 80’s. It would help them to figure out what it was all about and enlighten their dumb-ass brains.

Any further plans you have to Promote Punk/HC in Nepal? I see you are in Malaysia. How do you work?

ASIM: So far, we are just focusing on organizing gigs and spreading the music. Hopefully, year 2012, we will have our bands record and release their tunes and let’s see what’s gonna happen after that, but we will still be in the scene..haha… But till then, more and more shows are coming up so that people will know that other form of underground music also exists.

I don’t really work since I am here. OVC Nepal crew does it all. I just share my views and opinions regarding the gigs and the cause we would like to focus on. Also, I have been establishing connections with underground hardcore bands from several countries and they are too showing interest about the hardcore/punk scene of Nepal. Likewise, we have OVC family here in Malaysia too. So I am involved here. But it’s not the main point, where ever we are, it’s
all about sharing ideas, views, educating each other and so on. Our family from Singapore can give their opinions to us, we can share our ideas to our family in Philippines. Everyone can express their views to anyone.

Well couple of months back I saw some compilation notification coming from OVC. Please elaborate on that.
ASIM: After we started to do our shows and invited some bands to share the stage, we saw many bands like Shannon Scam, Overcome, Systematic Rejection, MC, The Doltish and other bands have some meaningful message to deliver through their lyrics. So we decided to come up with a compilation named “We are not dead, yet!” This compilation will be released for the benefit of some organization that we are still looking for who have been focusing on drug awareness or animal rights or some social club or any struggling organizations.

We wish OVC all the best and every success in its endeavors. Any last shout outs?

ASIM: Firstly, thanx a lot to Brutal Pokhara for the interview and support. You guys have been spreading our movement which we are really grateful of. Also, never ending love to my crew who have been keeping the movement alive and doing everything there. Secondly, I would like to thank all the bands that share the stage with us, to all the people who comes to our shows and to all those who support us, much love and respect from OVC Family. Yea, thanx to the stereotypes for their hate that’s making us stronger. WITHOUT YOU ALL, WE WOULDNT EVEN EXIST. Keep it real and keep it alive. Don’t ever let some bitch-talk let you down. Never forget what you are all about, stand strong and true. There are more to come from our side, so stay tuned. Do check out our page for updates: